Trylove

DRUNKEN MASTER II, known as THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER on its belated stateside release, is an absolute high watermark of the kung fu genre. Its classically dazzling choreography would be enough to earn it a place among the all-time best, but its anti-Western/pro-worker plot and artful filming really put it in another tier. At the same time, it works at a very basic level: watching people move like this, and watching their environments change around them, is a fundamentally joyous byproduct of human ingenuity.

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Main Title” by Michael Wandmacher from the THE LEGEND OF DRUNKEN MASTER soundtrack (international release).

Resources:

- "Jackie Chan - How to Do Action Comedy" by Every Frame a Painting on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Z1PCtIaM_GQ

- "Drunken Master II review" by Glen Stanway on Kung-fu Kingdom: https://kungfukingdom.com/drunken-master-ii-movie-review/

0:00 - Episode 136: DRUNKEN MASTER II (1994)

2:56 - The episode actually starts

4:55 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

8:22 - Jason’s thoughts

12:59 - Cody’s thoughts

16:54 - Harry’s thoughts

22:38 - Aaron’s thoughts

27:12 - Kung fu movies, elevated

33:21 - A ‘natural extension’ of a decades-long formula

40:52 - Seeing the whole world as a tool

46:03 - Characters, relationships, and the plot

1:00:09 - The coolest parts nobody talks about

1:09:14 - Cody’s Noteys (Drunklove)

Content warnings: Suicide.

This week, we’re joined by Trylonteer and movie lover Kelly Krantz (https://twitter.com/kransekage_) to discuss one of Wim Wenders’ classic films: WINGS OF DESIRE!

WINGS OF DESIRE tells the story of Damiel and Cassiel, angels floating above Cold War-era Berlin, studying, analyzing, and listening to our inner thoughts – but never revealing their presence. Damiel eventually pines for the inimitable “now”-ness of the human condition, embodied in Marion, a trapeze artist with the roving carnival, whom he would say he loves if he knew what love really felt like. With help from a former angel (Peter Falk, exuding some of his coziest Big Grandpa Energy), Damiel sacrifices his superhumanity (and his anonymity) to know and be known – to the human world and the woman he wants to feel it with.

Follow Kelly on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kransekage_ and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/luckyhoss/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “From Her to Eternity” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from the WINGS OF DESIRE soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 135: WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) with Kelly Krantz

3:21 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

5:24 - Kelly’s thoughts

6:34 - Jason’s thoughts

9:21 - Cody’s thoughts

12:18 - Harry’s thoughts

16:21 - Aaron’s thoughts

20:00 - The magic of Peter Falk

26:09 - The colorful final act of the movie

35:55 - Music, casting, and the experiential melting pot

39:03 - Cassiel

45:42 - Spare thoughts

56:05 - Cody’s Noteys (The Falk in Our Stars)

Content warning: Explicit discussions of sexual content, drug use, and some crude but good-natured goofing. Fuck James Franco.

The opening scenes of SPRING BREAKERS showcase two intentional worlds: One is a sardonic sensory overload, full of “bikinis and big booties”’ the other is a wry examination of cultural assumption through racial aesthetics, fraught with the implications of finding your own identity at the expense of another.

When four college girls break bad to fund their spring break good time, they find themselves on a crash course with a wannabe Scarface who’s on his own destructive path. The whole thing careens toward an incredibly violent end, but ultimately, director Harmony Korine is hoping you’ll see enough of that second movie (an incisive moral play about the roots of modern race relations in the American south) to justify the first (the aforementioned bikinis and big booties).

Also check out:

- “What About ‘The Breakfast Club’?” by Molly Ringwald for The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-about-the-breakfast-club-molly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” by Skrillex from the SPRING BREAKERS soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 134: SPRING BREAKERS (2012)

3:39 - The episode actually starts

5:02 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

7:02 - Jason’s thoughts

8:51 - Cody’s thoughts

12:37 - Harry’s thoughts

19:10 - Aaron’s thoughts

26:23 - Is SPRING BREAKERS a transgressive movie yes or no

33:09 - What are Brit and Candy’s motivations?

40:43 - Does its obviousness make it less effective?

43:18 - Where Faith and Cotty ditch the plot

1:01:48 - The ending

1:04:24 - Spare thoughts

1:06:07 - Cody’s Noteys (Trylibs: Spring Break)

Featuring returning guest Charlie Mackin (https://twitter.com/charliemander13)!

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE is about how the journey to self-actualization, despite being an internal one, is never taken alone. Thirteen-year-old Kiki ventures off to find her own identity as a witch – whatever that may be – and learns more about herself, her talents, and how others appreciate them (or don’t) when she tries doing the thing she loves for a living.

We’re known fans of Studio Ghibli’s repertoire, but KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE is Charlie’s favorite movie of all time, so of course we wanted to get her opinion on this anime classic. We talk about what’s held up and why, the movie’s nuanced picture of the material and spiritual exchanges of young adulthood, and what Kiki’s journey means to us as people who’ve grown up to exchange our skills for money.

Follow Charlie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/charliemander13 and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/charliemander/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “On a Clear Day/A Town with an Ocean View” from the KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE soundtrack composed by Joe Hisaishi and performed by New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra.

0:00 - Episode 133: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989) (feat. Charlie Mackin)

1:25 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

4:53 - Charlie’s thoughts

7:05 - Jason’s thoughts

9:59 - Harry’s thoughts

14:42 - Aaron’s thoughts

19:22 - Miyazaki’s old man politics and the generation gap

27:00 - Kiki’s evolving motivation

31:50 - Kiki’s insecurity and seeing herself through others’ eyes

44:47 - Animation communicating theme

47:19 - The climax & why people don’t like the ending

56:44 - Dubbing differences

1:04:43 - Spare thoughts

Featuring returning guest Matt Clark (https://twitter.com/themplsmatt)!

If NIGHT MOVES isn’t quite like other neonoirs of the 1970s, it’s because of Harry Moseby (Gene Hackman), a tragic antihero whose fatal flaw can’t really be called “hubris” because he actively seeks out his own problems and never accepts their resolution. When the “perfect” case lands in his lap (the 13-year-old daughter (Melanie Griffith) of a starlet past her prime (Janet Ward goes missing with her ex-lover as the only lead) he snatches defeat from the jaws of victory time and again – with deadly consequences. Oh, and his wife’s cheating on him, too. He handles that about as maturely as you’d expect.

Find Matt on Twitter at https://twitter.com/themplsmatt, Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/mplsmatt/, and read his movie blog, Kino Ventura, at https://kino-ventura.blogspot.com/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Night Moves” by Michael Small from the NIGHT MOVES soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 132: NIGHT MOVES (1975)

2:08 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

3:27 - Matt’s thoughts

5:03 - Jason’s thoughts

8:44 - Cody’s thoughts

12:35 - Harry’s thoughts

17:54 - Aaron’s thoughts

22:28 - What NIGHT MOVES does that other neonoirs don’t

27:23 - Harry Moseby is a man-child out of time

54:17 - Remembering back before you were born

1:01:46 - Cody’s Noteys (Note Moves)

KEY LARGO is a story about leaving to change things, only to come back and get caught up in them all over again. It’s a tightly wound noir stuck in a flimsy boarding house off the coast of Florida where an ex-GI, a war widow, a hounded mobster, a group of Seminole Indians, and many more seek freedom – and find instead signposts that the world they hoped to build never came to be after World War II.

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Moanin’ Low” written by Ralph Rainger and Howard Dietz and performed by Billie Holliday.

0:00 - Episode 131: KEY LARGO (1948)

1:50 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

4:15 - Jason’s thoughts

6:57 - Harry’s thoughts (Jason screwed up the sacred order)

10:23 - Cody’s thoughts

15:01 - Aaron’s thoughts

20:41 - The Floridian setting and what it does for the story

29:21 - Should Frank have died at the end?

40:26 - Location as character

43:13 - Back to the question of whether or not Frank should’ve died

59:26 - Spare thoughts

1:07:44 - Cody’s Noteys (Bogie’s Hoagies)

First she mates… then she terminates. Then we talk about it!

Maybe you can’t say LADY TERMINATOR is more than the sum of its parts (problematic depictions of women, poor editing, and a sometimes shot-for-shot ripoff of THE TERMINATOR (1984)), but it absolutely doesn’t need to be. Blending Indonesian folklore with ‘80s action tropes and a healthy dose of exploitation, it’s roughly about the curse of 100 generations coming to roost in the innocent young. But it’s so much a product of its time and place that you couldn’t imitate it if you wanted to – it’s too earnestly ridiculous, too confidently strange to repeat. We loved it.

Resources

- “On Lady Terminator: Interview with Barbara Anne Constable” by Andrew Leavold for Plaridel Journal: http://www.plarideljournal.org/article/on-lady-terminator-interview-with-barbara-anne-constable/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Souls On Fire” from LADY TERMINATOR.

0:00 - Episode 130: LADY TERMINATOR (1988)

2:02 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

5:05 - Jason’s thoughts

8:22 - Harry’s thoughts

12:45 - Aaron’s thoughts

25:01 - The inimitable fun of LADY TERMINATOR

27:57 - Aaron on “authentic” camp and why capitalizing on camp kills it

34:05 - Our favorite parts of the movie

41:38 - The appeal of unstoppable women

Warning: This podcast was recorded at 7 a.m. Central on a Sunday morning. Minor bullshit, “on one”-ness, and legitimately enlightening discussion ensue.

It was stupid of me to write that THE SACRIFICE (1986) is Tarkovsky’s most personal film. That’s definitely MIRROR. Depicting stories from Tarkovsky’s own life and cognition with a dreamlike throughline, it’s a movie that seeks to explore the relationship of self and memory rather than explain it.

It can be hard to even summarize, full of nonlinear scenes only loosely connected by theme: A dying poet reciting his work atop vignettes of a tortured life; the dissolution of a marriage, dying hope for the future, and the relinquishing of cultural identity; the definition of self amid the oppression of the state. It’s about how our selves get mixed in among our memories, and what place personal stories have in learning about others; it’s best approached as a whole rather than in the moment, which makes it a great movie to podcast about.

Resources

- “The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue” by Vida T. Johnson & Graham Petrie: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/films-of-andrei-tarkovsky-vida-t-johnson/1110992238

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “The Indian Queen” composed by Henry Purcell, performed by Bath Festival Orchestra, and conducted by Yehudi Menuhin from the MIRROR soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 129: MIRROR (1975)

2:22 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

5:04 - Jason’s thoughts

7:57 - Cody’s thoughts

12:50 - Harry’s thoughts

19:39 - Aaron’s thoughts

27:07 - The dissolution of the self in memory

33:11 - Tarkovsky, reflections, and time

41:57 - Using dreams and time to understand the self

45:43 - A confrontation with the limitations of the self

51:17 - What does it mean to be a “personal” film?

1:07:44 - Cody’s Noteys: Morning Edition (Upon Reflection… )

Featuring special guest Seth Zarate (https://twitter.com/snzarate)!

Andrei Tarkovsky’s final film might also be his most personal. Through the tale of a family rendered catatonic by impending nuclear obliteration and one man’s fateful gambit to avoid disaster, he wrestles with the morality of human existence, the sin of the unnecessary, and the role of faith in determining the self. It was a first for all of us, and while we didn’t all go in with the same expectations, we all came to what we think is a pretty good understanding of a remarkably dense film.

Follow Seth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/snzarate and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/snzarate/

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “Erbarme dich, mein Gott” from 'St Matthew Passion' (BWV 244) composed by J.S. Bach and performed by Julia Hamari, Suddeutscher Madrigalchor & Wolfgang Gonnenwein from the THE SACRIFICE soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 128: THE SACRIFICE (1986)

2:11 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

3:52 - Jason’s thoughts

6:45 - Harry’s thoughts

10:38 - Seth’s thoughts

13:04 - Aaron’s thoughts

13:53 - Aaron’s promise to watch every Tarkovsky movie this year

18:02 - Narcissism, philosophical dread & character development

26:46 - Movies’ problem with religious stories

35:33 - Technology and the sin of that which is unnecessary

53:27 - Spare thoughts

(Listening note: Harry was late, so we start the episode by talking bullshit about Star Wars and some other stuff. Use the timestamps to skip to the good stuff.)

CLAUDINE isn’t a textbook blaxploitation film, but it leans on those tropes and expectations to subvert them in a really radical way, especially in the context of its 1974 release. The story of a struggling mother on welfare finding love with a hardworking man amid the trials of life under capitalism is given a sharper edge by its script, an honest (if often ugly) window into the realities of being a Black American. Moreover, it’s a striking portrait of how those material realities remove opportunity, and what people do to find belonging, value, and worth in each other.

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at [email protected] to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/.

Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Music: “The Makings of You” composed by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight and the Pips from the CLAUDINE soundtrack.

0:00 - Episode 127: CLAUDINE (1974)

00:45 - Pre-Harry talk (Star Wars Holiday Special & more)

9:51 - The episode actually starts

11:01 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

12:52 - Jason’s thoughts (feat. Aaron)

18:47 - Cody’s thoughts

22:08 - Harry’s thoughts

28:01 - Aaron’s thoughts

31:37 - Falling in love under the eye of the state

38:11 - Social performance as a lens for understanding the characters

42:13 - The value of an honest, even ugly script

54:08 - Spare thoughts

59:24 - Cody’s Noteys (Games Earl Jones)